Chapter Thirty-Six Piper

Chapter Thirty-Six

Piper

Now: Sunday, 7:00 a.m.

I've never been clear on what exactly happened at that party. I was either by myself or with Noah that night, cursing Camille's name and counting down the seconds until my mom picked meup.

Someone drugged their drinks, and all these years I've taken the blame. And now we're back on that card. The linchpin.

Liam refreshes our mugs with hot cocoa brewed on the gas stove lit with one of the fireplace matches, and we stare grimly at the rest of the cards. A mass of candles corralled in the table's center renders us each a touch ghoulish in the quivering light.

"Marshmallows for Willa and a cinnamon stick for Delaney," he says, delivering each girl her custom drink. It's strange knowing he's romantically involved with both of them. I underestimated Liam. He's more of an asshole than I thought.

"It all comes back to that party and who spiked our drinks," Delaney says, holding up the card in question. "And then who has the biggest motive for revenge." There's a dramatic pause while Delaney surveys each of us in turn.

Liam tosses his hands up. "Not me. I was totally sober, remember?"

Delaney tilts her head to the side. "You don't think you have any motive at all?"

We watch as Delaney rearranges the Post-it notes, lining hers, Liam's, and Willa's all in a row. Then she grabs the Screwing your boyfriend card and slides it in the middle.

Camille exhales a quiet "What?" and I hiss air through my teeth, turning to Willa, who's gone white. I project innocence, want her to know that I didn't rat her out, but she doesn't even register I'm here. This is between the three of them.

Delaney zeroes in on her cheating boyfriend. "Maybe you've been in love with Willa this whole time and this is your elaborate revenge plot on her behalf. Or maybe you planned it together!"

"That's absurd," Willa chokes out.

"Babe, no." Liam grabs Delaney's hands in his. "It's not like that."

"What is it like, then?" Her voice cracks on the final word, and Delaney's eyes turn glassy. Her lower lip wobbles. And she bursts into tears.

Liam narrows all his energy on Delaney. I watch him assess the damage. As though he can triage the ruined relationship.

"I'm sorry," he says, pulling Delaney into an embrace. "You have to let me explain."

"I. L-love. Y-you," Delaney manages between gasping sobs. Liam whispers reassurances into her hair.

It's too intimate, a moment we shouldn't be witnessing. But we are literally still in the middle of figuring out which of us is a murderer. I think it's why none of us move, even though Willa looks like she'd prefer to evaporate into thin air.

"I love you, too." Liam is emphatic. He pulls back, grabs Delaney by the shoulders so they are eye to eye. "It didn't mean anything. It was a mistake."

I watch Willa crumple, utterly extinguished. There was a light in her eyes before. Now she stares ahead at nothing.

And then Camille explodes.

"Seriously?" She throws up her hands with exasperation. "You of all people are playing wounded martyr?"

Delaney looks up at her friend, blinking in confusion, as Camille locates another card from the deck, one I remember intimately from the other night.

Pretending to be a virgin.

Such an oddly specific card. Camille slides it under Delaney's name.

For a moment, no one dares even breathe.

Then Willa breaks the silence. "What?"

Liam slides down the bench, putting space between them. Delaney's eyes, now dry, widen like a deer's in headlights.

"Eden told me after Never Have I Ever the other night," Camille says, crossing her arms over her chest. "You had sex with Declan before you broke up. Years ago. But for some reason, you told all of us, including Liam, that you were a virgin. If you can lie about that, what else are you lying about?"

Camille then slides the Spike everyone's drinks card under Delaney's name too. A candle gutters out, as if on ghostly cue, and a howling wind fills the pregnant silence.

"How dare you—I didn't—I couldn't—" Delaney sputters. Then her eyes go comically wide. "Oh god. I know why you're doing this." She licks her lips and darts a glance at me, Willa, and Liam. "I didn't want to dishonor the dead, but…"

She moves the offending card under Eden's Post-it instead. Delaney bites her lip.

"Eden told me she messed with the drinks for Declan's TV pilot. To liven things up. She got the drugs from Wyatt. Declan knew." She flips on Camille. "Which means you probably found out too. Eden's drugging us cost you everything, Cam. And to have your best friend do that to you, of all people?"

Delaney takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Look, yes, I lied to you, Liam. I'm sorry. You assumed I hadn't—that Declan and I hadn't…and you were always so sensitive about that whole relationship. I wanted you to love the person you thought I was, so I just…went with it? And then I liked who we were. We were— are— perfect."

"I swear to God, if you're about go on about your perfect ten-year plan, I'm going to scream. You know it's bullshit!" Camilleseethes. "Fuck you, and fuck Liam, and fuck Yale."

Delaney's eyes narrow at her alleged bestie turned prime murder suspect. "I know you shit-talked me behind my back with Eden. Were you in on the sock-puppet stuff, too? Maybe it was your idea. Psyching out the competition is very much your brand, after all."

She's right. Cam is ultracompetitive, and Eden's spiking those drinks ruined her shot at the Olympics.

And it only happened because of me.

If Delaney's right and Camille's behind this, was I supposed to be on this trip after all?

Delaney's not done, though. She drives the point home.

"You want a big reason, a certain kind of person who could be a killer? It's her. She has all the know-how to pull off something like this. She knows about the mountains, the outdoors. The flue! She showed Silva how it worked." Delaney screws up her face, like the wheels are turning. "I'm a heavy sleeper, which you know, so you could have easily snuck out to off Declan and Eden. How could you? I trusted you!"

"You made sure you were with me when we found Eden. Pushed me toward the door," Willa adds quietly.

"This is absurd." Camille's eyes dart from person to person, searching for a friendly face, for some backup.

But she's alone.

Like a wild animal backed into a corner, she hisses and spits. "Me? You're the killer!" she fumes at Delaney. "Declan cheated on you with Eden. You were jealous of her for years! Of course you'd want her dead."

"And Wyatt? What's my motive there?" Delaney fires back. "I had no reason to hurt him. You're grasping at straws, Camille. I broke up with Declan, not the other way around. I let Eden have him, and I was genuinely happy for them. They were a much better fit. And I have Liam. Had." She chokes on a sob.

Liam reaches out for her hand once more. "You still haveme."

Willa makes a strangled choking sound, but it's lost in the clatter of Camille's chair as she pushes back violently from the table.

"God, fuck all of you," Camille hisses. "Del, I'll toss your shit in the hallway. I'll be in my room with the door locked, hiding from whichever one of you assholes is the killer."

"Great performance, Cam! Very convincing!" Delaney shouts after her.

But I can't help but think I've just borne witness to a bizarre stage play, the players going off script to an uncertain end.

It's a weight off my shoulders to know for certain Eden spiked those drinks. But it swings the pendulum even more heavily in Camille's direction. My once friend and always nemesis…but a killer? Doubt twists in my stomach. I no longer know what, or who, to believe.